Lanning out to prove a big hit

Meg Lanning is about to confront what David Warner faced in late 2011, the backhanded compliment that because he was so devastating in limited-overs matches it was impossible for him to temper that aggression sufficiently for Tests.

Lanning, 21, is Australia's highest ranked batter in both one-day and Twenty20, fifth and third respectively among her world peers. From 51 appearances for the Southern Stars she boasts a strike-rate above 100 in both formats, and has four centuries.

Testing time: Meg Lanning, a star in the short forms of the game, wants success at the highest level. Photo: Mal Fairclough

She swings hard and swings often, as she did last week when she blasted 104 against England A at Radlett Cricket Club. Her success in doing so is also reflected in her having scored four international centuries, plus 175 for Victoria and an unbeaten 241 from 136 deliveries for her club side, Box Hill, last summer.

The last time Australia played a Test, in January 2011, Lanning was not even a month into her international career and was the team's reserve batter. While her success at the top of the order for the Stars in both limited-overs formats has cemented her cricketing credentials, she nevertheless considers her imminent Test debut as a significant and long-awaited milestone.

''It's been the main goal of mine over the past few years to play a Test match. To get a baggy green is something all cricketers strive for, women included,'' she said.

The longest matches in which Lanning has played were school matches over two weekends with a maximum of 70 overs a team, although even they were 3½ years ago.

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Despite the significant gap between the 50- and 20-over matches she has subsisted on since leaving school she has made only minor changes to her training regimen and intends to make even fewer adjustments to her batting mindset.

''You rein yourself in a little bit for the longer form, you don't need to worry about the scoring rate. But I think it's really important for myself and also the other batters to keep that aggressive mindset. I think we do play better when we have that. It's important we don't go too far the other way and go into our shells too much,'' Lanning said ahead of the four-day Test away to England starting on Sunday.

''If there's ball to be hit, whether it's the first ball or the 10th ball, I'm still going to want to hit it. I think that's the way I'm going to be successful in the Test match, by playing my natural game.

''I don't want to go into my shell and be poking around a little bit.''

In addition to keeping fit in recent months by playing hockey, the other sport at which she excels, Lanning has been undertaking intense batting training sessions in the nets with her state teammate Jess Cameron, a fellow dasher, to prepare for England's renowned seamers.

''It's going to be a challenge for a lot of us. We're quite naturally aggressive, a lot of the batters, so it's going to be something we're going to have to look at, how we approach the innings,'' she said.

''Occupying the crease is really important, but it's just about decision-making really, to wait for the ball you can hit rather than just make something out of nothing, which sometimes you do in the shorter formats.''

When Warner, who like Lanning began his career as a limited-overs specialist, made his Test debut many expected him to prove he was too rash for the longest format.

After failing in his first three innings, in his fourth he produced an unbeaten 123 against New Zealand in treacherous batting conditions to almost shepherd Australia to victory.

Lanning's captain, Jodie Fields, does not expect she or any other of the Stars' on- or off-field leaders will be required to give the right-hander significant advice on how to bat on her Test debut.

''I'm pretty excited about the batting order we are going to have. I feel like we pretty much bat from one to 11. I think that's a real strength of our team,'' the captain said.

''Even though it is a Test match and you do have more time I think the better players still play positively and look to score. That's what we'll be telling all of our batters, particularly her.''

One person who could be a valuable sounding board is Belinda Clark, the retired Stars batting champion who has been temporarily drafted from running Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence in Brisbane to be assistant coach to Cathryn Fitzpatrick for the Ashes series, which will be decided by results of the Test and the six limited-overs matches.

Lanning said she and her teammates are bracing for a stiff challenge from England in its attempt to wrest back the Ashes, arguing Australia's triumph at each of the past three major international tournaments would have provided additional motivation for its host in this series.

''England probably thought they would've won at least one of them - probably all of them - so they'll be fired up to come up against us and try to regain the No.1 [ranking], because we're currently number one in all three formats.''